FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY

Continuing our series Strong families this morning I want to encourage you to fight for your family. (Not fight with your family, that’s easy and we do not need to be encouraged to do that, it comes pretty natural but Fight FOR your family.) The series is called “Strong Families” because in it we are talking about how to strengthen families and that is because if our families are going to survive in our culture it will need to be strong. And our families will not be strong unless at least two things happen:(1) Unless God is the source of our families strength. We can try to have a strong family and close relationships and hope the world does not do to much damage but if God is the one who watching over it then there are no guarantees.

​ ESVUnless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

(2) We will not have strong families unless we fight (make it our goal) to do whatever it takes to have a spiritually strong family. We may not realize just how true it is that having a strong godly family does not happen by change but instead takes effort. It doesn’t just happen. The beginning relationship of a family; the marriage is a good example of that. I’ll prove it. Those of you who have been married for a while; would you have a good marriage if you did not put effort into it? (Sometimes a lot of effort.) Marriage can be great and it is well worth the effort but it takes fighting for, right? The same is true when the marriage expands into children as the family gets bigger. THE ENEMY IS FIGHTING AGAINST OUR FAMILIES: WE DO NOT NEED STATS TO BELIEVE AND KNOW THAT SO MANY FAMILIES DO NOT MAKE IT. WE HEAR ABOUT THEM AND SEE THEM ALL THE TIME IN OUR CULTURE. There is a reason for this. We live in a culture that is very toxic to the family that God intended. So many families do not make it because whether we are fighting for our families or not the enemy is fighting against our families. We need to be careful that we do not make the mistake of thinking: “that will never happen to my family” or “that will never happen to our children.” (If your family is struggling right now please do not feel alone and please do not feel like everyone else has it all together perfectly. Every family has its struggles, strengths and weaknesses and we all have things that we need to work on and improve.) We should all be fighting to have a stronger family so we can be a brighter light and greater glorification of God. We need to be careful that we do not make the mistake of thinking: “that will never happen to my family” or “that will never happen to our children.” But for our families to be what God intended for them to be and what desire them to be it will not happen by accident. It will take Christ being in the midst of our families as well as our hearts being turned towards our families. We might not What is a strong family? What do you think of when you think of a strong family? What does their life look like? We might think of a strong family as being in a nice house and being financially secure. We might think of a strong family as the family that is involved in everything. Where the husband and wife are successful, the kids get good grades, are good at sports or their extracurricular activities. The future seems secure and vacations always happen and so on. But many families have all of those things and more physically but spiritually are bankrupt. Even though they are healthy on the outside spiritually they are far from God. A strong family in God’s eyes could be like the family in Honduras that is intact and a part of the body of Christ. Even though they do not have a lot of possession or even jobs at times, they are close to one another and close to God hopefully. They are together and serving and trusting in God. WHAT IF WE FOUGHT AS HARD FOR OUR FAMILIES AS WE DO...Jesus said in…store up treasure in heaven…(He said this because people then and now and in general focus on working to make this life as good as it can be by storing up treasures now…We cannot take what we make or our possessions to heaven. But if we are living for Christ and leading our families to Him then it is possible that we have our families there with us. (Let us not lose what we could have eternally for things that are only temporary.) Spiritual vs Physical mindset toward family (Temporal vs eternal) (When we focus only on (or mainly on) how our families are doing physically (in this life) the best we will do is give them good things for the few years we are here - When we focus on how our families are doing spiritually we can help them have the greatest thing they could ever receive - eternity with Christ (and with us). We often get so wrapped up with what our families are doing or going through in this life. But no matter what there is nothing in the life our our families that is or will be more important than where They were building the walls, working and willing to fight to keep their families safe and secure physically. We need to work and fight to make sure our families are secure and healthy spiritually.